High temperature components (that is, components exposed to temperature exceeding about 1000° F. or about 540° C. during operation) are commonly fabricated by powder metallurgy and, specifically, by sintering superalloy powders to produce a solid body, which may then undergo further processing to produce the finished component. Components produced from sintered superalloy powders may have thermal tolerances greatly exceeding those of other metals and alloys. However, components produced by sintering conventionally-known superalloy powders may still have hardness, fatigue resistance, and wear resistance properties that are undesirably limited in certain applications, such as when such powders are used to produce the rings of a rolling element bearing deployed within a high temperature operating environment. While high temperature ceramic materials can be utilized to produce articles having improved hardness and wear resistance under elevated operating temperatures, the toughness and ductility of high temperature ceramic materials tend to be relatively poor. Consequently, such ceramic materials may be undesirably brittle and fracture prone when utilized to produce high temperature bearing rings or other components subject to severe loading conditions during high temperature operation. Furthermore, additional design modifications to the high temperature components may be required if fabricated from relatively brittle ceramic materials.
It would thus be desirable to provide embodiments of a method for producing enhanced superalloy powders or powder mixtures that, when sintered and otherwise processed, yield high temperature articles having excellent hardness and wear resistant properties, while also having relatively high ductility and fracture resistance. It would also be desirable if, in at least some embodiments, the method could further be utilized to prepare enhanced superalloy powder mixtures able to produce high temperature articles having other improved characteristics as compared to articles produced from other, conventionally-known superalloy powders. For example, it would be desirable if embodiments of the method could produce an enhanced superalloy powder mixture having increased strength under high temperature operating conditions when sintered into a chosen article, such as a turbine blade, vane, nozzle, duct, or other high temperature component deployed within a gas turbine engine. Other desirable features and characteristics of embodiments of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent Detailed Description and the appended Claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing Background.